See today's daily for more on this, but while the freight rate moves are more than likely going to correct to a degree at some point, their continual escalation has multiple implications for the chemical and plastic industry as they are most impactful on cheap imports from Asia targeting low-cost furniture, appliances, toys, and household goods where the base cost of the product is low and the move from $3,000 to $10,000 per container wipes out any advantage of manufacturing offshore.
The concerns about supply chain inflation hurting chemical demand are likely very end-use specific. While the packagers and consumer goods sellers are seeing significant inflation in all raw materials, not just polymers, the packaging is a minor component of the cost and value of what they are selling and while it may hurt their earnings, it is unlikely to stifle demand – none of us is likely to stop buying milk, orange juice or cookies if the prices rise a couple of cents because the manufacturers are trying to cover some of their higher costs.